Overview of the Rules for Claiming a Dependent This table is only an overview of the rules. For details, see Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax For Individuals. • You can’t claim any dependents if you, or your spouse if filing jointly, could be claimed as a dependent by another taxpayer. • You can’t claim a married person who files a joint return as a dependent unless that joint return is only to claim a refund of income tax withheld or estimated tax paid. • You can’t claim a person as a dependent unless that person is a U.S. citizen, U.S. resident alien, U.S. national, or a resident of Canada or Mexico.1 • You can’t claim a person as a dependent unless that person is your qualifying child or qualifying relative. Tests To Be a Qualifying Child Tests To Be a Qualifying Relative 1. The child must be your son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother, stepsister, or a descendant of any of them. An adopted child is always treated as your own child. The term “adopted child” includes a child who was lawfully placed with you for legal adoption. 1. The person can’t be your qualifying child or the qualifying child of any other taxpayer. A child isn’t the qualifying child of any other taxpayer if the child’s parent (or any other person for whom the child is defined as a qualifying child) isn’t required to file an income tax return or files an income tax return only to get a refund of income tax withheld. 2. The child must be: (a) under age 19 at the end of the year and younger than you (or your spouse, if filing jointly), (b) under age 24 at the end of the year, a fulltime student, and younger than you (or your spouse, if filing jointly), or (c) any age if permanently and totally disabled. 2. The person either (a) must be related to you in one of the ways listed under Relatives who don’t have to live with you (see Table 2, step 2), or (b) must live with you all year as a member of your household2 (and your relationship must not violate local law). 3. The child must have lived with you for more than half of the year.2 3. The person’s gross income for the year must be less than $4,300.3 Gross income means all income the person received in the form of money, goods, property and services, that isn’t exempt from tax. Don’t include Social Security benefits unless the person is married filing a separate return and lived with their spouse at any time during the tax year or if 1/2 the Social Security benefits plus their other gross income and tax exempt interest is more than $25,000 ($32,000 if MFJ). 4. The child must not have provided more than half of his or her own support for the year.5 4. You must provide more than half of the person’s total support for the year.4, 5 5. The child isn’t filing a joint return for the year (unless that joint return is filed only to claim a refund of income tax withheld or estimated tax paid). 6. If the child meets the rules to be a qualifying child of more than one person, you must be the person entitled to claim the child as a qualifying child. See the “Qualifying Child of More Than One Person” chart. This what the IRS pub on the question says. Hope this helps.
